Positively coaching the art & science of horsemanship and equitation; enabling you to bring your equine dreams to life

No fear. No stress. No pain. No exceptions.

At Equi-libre Horses, our aim is to take horse training to the highest possible level, using styles which encourage and enthuse, building relationships based on trust that are fun, enjoyable and rewarding for both the horse and the owner.

We offer ethical horsemanship and equitation tuition and training. Our specialism and passion is classical equitation (which actually technically-speaking also includes jumping!). Jo Hughes is very enthusiastic about equine behaviour and humane reward-based positive training methods sometimes including (but absolutely by no means limited to) the use of a bridge signal or a clicker within training.

Jo is 100% committed to both the humans’ and horses’ wellbeing; her philosophy is to empower others to allow them to develop into great riders and horse trainers. Jo’s belief is that good horsemanship and equitation is both an art and a science and she is passionate about combining the practical skills of good training and riding with more modern research in the science of equine ethology, psychology & behaviour and even affective neuroscience (the science of emotions)! read more about Jo…

Only as a member of my mailing list will you get access to offers as part of this exciting community celebrating the passion and enjoyment of positive horse training.

“Seconded! Jo is experienced in classical equitation, understands biomechanics, learning theories, ethology, thresholds and body language, has enough knowledge to take a critical overview and is developing a structured training programme that others can follow. Her ethical standards are high; no hesitation in directing you to her for more information on an “R+ programme”

Debbie Busby (Equine Behaviour Consultant)

“I really recommend Jo Hughes’ Academy for online support/training videos etc. The online support you get is incredible! I really, really recommend you study Jo’s course ‘How Horses Learn , Feel & Communicate’. It’s an incredible online course that will really put you in a great place to assist you with training your horse. You will be so clear on body language signals and the emotions of the horse and Jo is a fantastic teacher.”

Rebekah Marshall

“The ONLY trainer I trust with my horses! If you’re ever looking for a journey like no other with your equine, I highly recommend Jo. I took nearly 2 years to find the right person who would help the magic happen. The knowledge she shares is beyond imagination. Can’t thank you enough Jo!”

Emma Hartley

“My knowledge grows every single day thanks to Jo”

Alex Rayner

“You have no idea how powerful that course is! You have this amazing ability to gather a lot of information and then put it into a format that makes sense of it all. You literally compress it into bite sized chunks for us to digest, at which point it expands! You are amazing!!”

Heather Richardson

Take a look at some real life examples of Jo’s training and coaching in the videos below:

Ridden shoulder-in bareback and bridleless, all trained using positive reinforcement and a bridge signal →

← Teaching a young, untrained and unhandled horse to pick her foot up for husbandry care such as picking out a foot and being trimmed. Jo is also teaching her to discriminate between leaving the leg on the floor when it is touched and only picking it up when given a verbal cue of ‘lift’. All trained using positive reinforcement and a clicker:

Young horse training – teaching a horse to long line without aversives. All trained using a bridge signal and positive reinforcement →

← Cueing a horse to wait, followed by cueing her to line up at the mounting block. All trained using a bridge signal and positive reinforcement:

Thank you so much Jo for guiding us through all of this!

I was petrified of finding a trainer that would fully understand him and the direction we needed to go. I searched 2 years for someone I felt suitable and when you came that first day, everything just fit! Everything made sense and its been an amazing journey ever since.

This horse is so special as he really did not enjoy life with humans, there was zero trust and to think the only way he could cope was to go into full blown aggression was very upsetting. To see him now is just out of this world!

P.s you’re never allowed to retire! – Emma Hartley

Specialities…

Her specialities are problem/rehabilitation horses, anatomy, biomechanics, movement and balance in the riding horse as well as training both horses and riders progressively towards advanced (& High School) level dressage movements through maximising the use of positive reinforcement and minimising the use of aversives.

She also coaches and trains clients and their horses in pure historical classical equitation both on the ground (in hand & long lines) as well as ridden; making use of extremely light negative reinforcement (pressure/release) with a focus on achieving correct balance and the resulting absolute lightness.

Thanks Jo, for an amazing riding lesson yesterday. Wow, I had a real breakthrough – not just in understanding the importance of a correct seat and lower leg position but most of all in feeling the difference and the impact this has on the horse’s balance and suppleness. Coming away from the “driving seat” into a classical seat with my lower legs correctly positioned below my hip has made me much more balanced, I am able to engage my core properly, therefore my lower back is supported and my shoulders and arms are looser and can be more giving and best of all – all this has transferred to my horse, who was as a result also much more balanced, relaxed and rhythmical just from the seat and seemed to have enjoyed the session as much as I did. Can’t wait to build on this now.